Lord Rockingham's XI

Lord Rockingham's XI were a group of
musicians put together to play as the heavily sax laiden resident
band on 'Oh Boy!'. Jack Good had created this TV rock and roll
show shortly after being dismissed by the BBC. Although Good
had produced the very successful 'Six-5 Special' for the Beeb,
he was deemed to be too reckless for Auntie and given his marching
orders. Unfortunately for the BBC he was not unemployed for long
and ITV were then able to host one of the UK's definitive TV
popular music programmes.

Lord Rockingham's XI actually had 13
musicians in all if you included bandleader Harry Robinson and
lady organist Cherry Wainer. Well known jazz 'buff' Benny Green
played alto saxophone with the band, but was so embarrassed by
it that he often played in sunglasses to hide the fact. Although
most people identified scotsman Harry Robinson as Lord Rockingham,
this wasn't the case according to Jack Good. After achieving
fame with their single 'Hoots Mon' and wanting to go 'on the
road', there was considerable argument about who had rights to
the name Lord Rockingham, and lawyers had to be brought in to
settle the dispute! Although Good had created the name as a play
on words 'rocking 'em', there really had been a real Lord Rockingham
in times past.

Unfortunately, the Lord Rockingham EP doesn't have much more
than the title on its picture sleeve, so I've put this one here
instead. Cherry never quite managed a chart single without the
XI, but the sound of her Hammond organ was familiar enough to
those of us who watched "Oh Boy!". This EP contains
material typical of that which she played on the show.

The band achieved one further minor novelty
hit apart from 'Hoots Mon' and the joke was over. Harry Robinson
did try again with a modified line-up during the hey day of the
Twist a couple of years later, but got no significant response.
Lord Rockingham's XI remain a delightful, if transient, piece
of 1950s fun, and should never have been taken as seriously as
some musicians apparently believed they should be.